13/05/2018

Turning Climate Change Legislation Into Public Health Policy

WHO estimates 7 million deaths from breathing polluted air indoors and outdoors;

Impact of weather-related natural disasters;

Negative effects on crop yields and food security;

Changing patterns of vector-borne diseases;

The shaping of social and environmental determinants of health.

2018 marks 10 years of the UK's 2008 Climate Change Act, which mandated reduction of UK carbon dioxide emissions by 80% by 2050 to 1990 levels, and legislated an independent Committee on Climate Change.

The effects of climate change are inextricably entwined with
health: ranging from the WHO estimate of 7 million deaths from
breathing polluted air indoors and outdoors; through the impact of
weather-related natural disasters; negative effects on crop yields and
food security; and changing patterns of vector-borne diseases; to the
shaping of social and environmental determinants of health.
2018 marks
10 years of the UK's 2008 Climate Change Act, which mandated reduction
of UK carbon dioxide emissions by 80% by 2050 to 1990 levels, and
legislated an independent Committee on Climate Change.
Internationally,
this past decade saw completion of the first phase of the Kyoto
Protocol, the establishment of the 2010 Green Climate Fund, and the
adoption of the 2015 Paris Agreement within the UN Framework Convention
on Climate Change, collectively setting national and international
targets towards mitigating the effects of climate change.
Building
on local, national, and international progress to turn climate change
policy into public health actions maximises cobenefits for health.
Local
authorities and health professionals have already cooperated for many
years in the UK: climate change legislation is a common and shared
interest, but these groups must engage in stronger partnerships and
dialogue.
There is bureaucratic complexity in national government
cross-departmental sharing of policy—including key players from the
Departments of Environment, Food, & Rural Affairs, Transport,
Health, Business, and Energy & Industrial Strategy—but such sharing
is essential for effective results.
The Climate Change Act and
accompanying committees facilitate this, and there is support from
health professionals, seen in the work of the Lancet Countdown and the UK Health Alliance on Climate Change.
Pressing
challenges for UK policy makers exist around the interlinked policies
of travel and air pollution.
From the lack of joined up infrastructure
to quantifying the impact of health-related travel in the UK, health
needs to be better embedded into decision making.
For example, although
individual-level public health advice has long been to undertake more
active travel through walking and cycling, urban planning and rural
infrastructures are widely variable, traffic safety is frequently poor,
and levels of outdoor air pollution are dangerous.
Air
pollution policy is at a crossroads.
The UK Government is in the final
stages of developing a new draft clean air strategy that would bring the
1956 and 1968 Clean Air Acts up to date.
An environment act, which is
yet to be drafted, is also being precipitated by the UK's 2019 departure
from the European Union, and has the potential to influence local and
national land use, industry output, agriculture, and urban planning.
Government departments need the support of the health community to link
these initiatives and to keep health firmly on cross-departmental
agendas.
Internationally, new data
published on May 2 by WHO reporting the air pollution levels in 4300
cities found that nine of ten people globally are breathing polluted air
(defined by WHO as exposure to small particulate matter of 2·5 μm or
less in diameter [PM2·5], in concentrations higher than an average mean of 40 μg/m3).
WHO data should be used to inform policy to support cross-sectoral
solutions for transport, land use, urban housing, and energy
infrastructure.
Against this backdrop, WHO has called for health to be
the top priority for urban planners—with more than half of the world's
population already living in cities.
In China, the urban population is
expected to reach 71% by 2030, bringing a host of urban health
implications.
The Tsinghua-LancetCommission on Healthy Cities in China: unlocking the power of cities for a healthy China
recommends addressing urban planning, calling for better integration of
health into all civic policies, and the integration of multisectoral
policies.
The recommendations have universal importance and should be
read and acted on by all those with responsibility for urban health, and
are not limited to China.
Cooperation and sharing of goals, targets,
and measurements across diverse sectors will support effective action on
climate change—especially environmental pollution.
Climate
change legislation is a central concern across government at all
levels, and is not solely about the changing climate, but is embedded in
public health policies.
The Climate Change Act plays an important part
in the UK, and can continue to act as a beacon to inform other
countries' national approaches within the Paris Agreement framework.
Health professionals have a responsibility to influence and contribute
to policies at local and national levels that demonstrate commitment to
public health, as this will define how future societies take shape
around our world.